Chapter 456: Healing

The setting sun gradually sank into the clouds, the remaining radiance spreading from the edge of the sea of clouds, blazing like fire as it burned toward the deepening night.

The rare beasts and exotic animals in the surrounding forests gradually quieted down, each returning to its den to rest. The sound of the nearby mountain spring flowing over the stone slabs grew clearer... The murmuring water triggered some yellowed memories in Snake Ji.

She recalled a small village, a few hills, a group of rustic villagers with no real knowledge, and the snacks and wine they left as offerings on rocks. She remembered children picking fruit in the mountains, and the spring that flowed down from the peaks.

The snacks were delicious, the spring water was sweet, and the children... she hadn't seen them for many, many years.

She wasn't even sure how much of those memories were real, how much were hallucinations from eating poisonous fruit back then, and how much had been beautified over the years from sleepless nights in the Demon Suppression Tower, mixed with nightmares and delusions.

The giant snake lowered its head and saw a large plate of fruits placed on the table in the middle of the pavilion. Yuanhe pushed the plate forward. That hateful old man had a hateful smile on his face, looking up at her.

"These are the fruits you like—these past two days, because I administered new medicine with special properties, I halved your meals. You were hungry. The period is over today—feel free to eat."

Snake Ji's several heads circled the plate of fruits, examining them as if suspecting poison.

Yuanhe Zhenren laughed at the sight. "Don't worry, there's no new medicine this time, and you don't need any more. Actually, I prepared these fruits for you at noon today, but I didn't expect you to get so hungry you'd break into someone else's room to steal food. I spent a long time looking for you... If I'd known, I would have let you out earlier."

"Old thief Yuanhe," Snake Ji suddenly lifted her head, staring straight at Yuanhe Zhenren. "What exactly are you planning? Don't think you can fool me—you're not that kind-hearted! Tell me, are you trying to trick me into going down the mountain, and then the moment I step out you'll claim I escaped, catch me again, chop me up and make snake soup?"

"Believe it or not," Yuanhe Zhenren said cheerfully, laughing. After a few seconds, facing Snake Ji's increasingly suspicious gaze, he flicked his horsetail whisk, lazily leaning against the pavilion pillar. "You should have felt it yourself—is your mind clearer? Is that violent urge gone? Do you still have hallucinations or auditory delusions? Do you still occasionally think you're an earthworm, a centipede, a millipede, a stick insect?"

Every time he spoke, Snake Ji was stunned. After several stunned moments, the giant snake finally dropped her feigned suspicion and anger, drooping her head somewhat guiltily. "I... I noticed. But I didn't dare believe it! How did it suddenly..."

Yuanhe Zhenren stroked his beard, lifting his eyelids to look at the great snake demon. "Struck by lightning."

Snake Ji: "...?!"

"I've been treating you for years. In theory, I should have long dissolved the 'demonic nature' caused by your qi deviation. But over all these years, you never fully recovered. You were lacking that 'final push.' That push was the lightning strike you took—the accumulation of years of tempering your heart and body was finally reforged into a sliver of intelligent light by the thunder in the Demon Suppression Tower."

Snake Ji tilted her head, still seeming not to understand.

Seeing her dull reaction, Yuanhe was so angry he laughed instead. He raised his horsetail whisk and gave one of Snake Ji's heads a light smack. "Silly girl, you succeeded in your tribulation—you're no longer a demon. You're a demon immortal."

Snake Ji thought for a moment, then lowered her head and started eating the fruits.

After eating for a while, she suddenly lifted her head. "Then why didn't you strike me earlier?!"

"...That was a tribulation! A tribulation! It depends on fate and opportunity! When it's your time to undergo it, even hiding at the bottom of the Nine Nether wouldn't help. When it's not your time, even tying yourself to a lightning rod would only get yourself killed for nothing. Besides, how was I supposed to know when you had reached the 'right moment'? How could I help you in advance?"

Snake Ji's human head let out an "oh," while her other heads were still busily devouring the fruits, especially the dog head, which had nearly gnawed the plate clean. After another few seconds, she reacted again. "Ah, so I really can leave?"

Yuanhe Zhenren nodded. "I told you—go or stay, as you wish."

Snake Ji let out another "oh," then all her heads together finished the remaining fruits on the plate in a few gulps. She turned and slithered down the mountain. "Fine, I'm leaving."

The giant snake's figure moved like a gust of wind, almost instantly vanishing into the winding, deep mountain path, merging into the darkening sky.

Yuanhe Zhenren, holding his horsetail whisk, stared at the direction Snake Ji had gone for a few seconds. He hesitated, opened his mouth. "Really... really gone."

Then, after a few more seconds, seeing the empty mountain path, he unconsciously took two steps outside the pavilion. "Girl, you're not coming back?"

No echo came from the mountain path.

Yuanhe Zhenren finally let out a soft sigh, shook his head, and turned back into the pavilion.

On the stone table, a single orange remained in the plate, shriveled.

Yuanhe sat down, picked up the orange, and slowly peeled its withered skin.

A black-and-white dog head suddenly popped out of the darkness beside him, and in one bite, it swallowed the orange in his hand.

Yuanhe jerked his head up, staring at the great snake slithering in through the pavilion pillars. "Aren't you gone?!"

"Old thief Yuanhe!" Snake Ji raised her head, looking impudent. "I don't have any money!"

Yuanhe Zhenren: "?"

Snake Ji continued matter-of-factly. "I heard you have to buy a ticket to ride the Immortal Ferry—give me money!"

Yuanhe Zhenren stared, his eyes wide, watching the insolent great snake for a long time. Finally, he slapped his thigh in annoyance. "I knew it—this trouble wouldn't get rid of you so easily. Put the travel expenses aside for now. I need to teach you a few shapeshifting techniques first. At least learn to take human form, or even half-human, half-snake. At least shrink yourself a bit."

"Why?" Snake Ji frowned. "You think I'll scare people when I go out? Didn't you say I'm not a demon anymore? Besides, people in this world have seen demons before. If they get scared, that's their cowardice..."

"Because in this form alone, you'll take up seven seats on the Immortal Ferry!" Yuanhe Zhenrer bristled. "I have to dip into my own pockets every so often to compensate Second Senior Brother's herb garden because of my useless disciples. I don't have that much money to pay for you to occupy seats on the ferry!"

Hearing that, Snake Ji became furious too. "And my seven heads now are because of you, old thief! If you hadn't forcibly added that dog head, I originally only had six heads!"

"You don't take up seven seats because you have seven heads—it's because of that seven- or eight-meter-long tail! Look at yourself—can you even fit into a seat after coiling up?"

Snake Ji was stunned.

Then she obediently retracted her heads and coiled herself up inside the pavilion.

"You teach. What's the first step?"

...

Night had already fallen. When Yu Sheng returned to No. 66 Wutong Road, the fairy lamps near Guanyun Terrace had already lit up, one by one. Elegant, antique-style lampstands rose from the clouds, illuminating the mountain paths and peaks.

Though the night view of the immortal mountain sea of clouds was intoxicating, it was the warm light of home greeting him as he pushed open the door, and the simple, familiar living room, that truly put him at ease.

As soon as he entered, Yu Sheng saw Luna cleaning the living room, an Aileen carrying a picture frame sitting on the sofa watching TV, two Aileens babbling and making trouble behind Luna, and another Aileen sitting on the coffee table, fiddling with the "Ominous Star" in her hands, looking completely focused.

Hu Li was flying in midair, holding a small bucket in one hand and a scraper in the other, carefully repairing the concave dent on the ceiling made by the Ominous Star.

Hearing the door open, Hu Li immediately jumped down from midair and happily greeted him at the entrance. "Benefactor, you're back!"

There was putty on her face, and even her fluffy big ears were smeared with dust falling from the ceiling. Yet her smile was still as radiant as ever.

Behind her, the Aileen at the coffee table just waved without looking up. Luna walked over, gave a stiff salute like a knight (even though she was holding a broom), and stammered, "Welcome... back."

Yu Sheng smiled and greeted Luna, then his gaze crossed the fox girl's head and landed on the living room ceiling. He saw the dent had been filled. The repair wasn't beautiful, but it was clearly done with great care. He wondered how long she had been working on it.

"Where did you get the putty?" Yu Sheng asked curiously.

"I asked Engineer Sun! I went to the valley, and he happened to be with his crew at Fairy Tale Town renovating the plumbing and electrical in a few new houses. So I asked him for some quick-dry putty. After it dries, I still need to sand it down and paint it... I also got latex paint from him!"

Hu Li said happily, her face beaming with pride, shaking the little bucket in her hand at Yu Sheng.

"At first I didn't know how to use it, so I learned from the workers."

Yu Sheng listened with amazement, then looked back at the ceiling she had worked so hard to repair. Suddenly he smiled, reached out, and rubbed the soft fur behind the fox girl's ears.

The fox girl was so happy her eyes narrowed into slits.

Yu Sheng shook the large carrying basket in his hand.

"I brought back delicious food from the Immortal Cuisine Hall, and also got a few portions of chicken leg rice from the Special Affairs Bureau cafeteria..."

Before he finished speaking, he felt his field of vision blur. The basket in his hand and the fox girl in front of him were gone, leaving only an afterimage charging toward the dining room.

"Go wash your hands first! And wash your face!" Yu Sheng called out helplessly with a laugh from behind. "And leave me a portion—I'm not hungry right now. I'll eat later."

"Okay, Benefactor! Got it!"

Yu Sheng shook his head with a helpless smile, then walked over to the coffee table, looking at Aileen, who was sitting cross-legged fiddling with the Ominous Star.

"How's this ball doing?" he asked casually.

"Seems fine now," Aileen said, casually placing the Ominous Star beside her head. It wobbled in the air for a moment, then began to "orbit" around the small doll's head in circles, just like before.

Yu Sheng marveled at the sight, then noticed the other three Aileens also in the living room. "...How did you solve the 'chaos' problem with this thing? With four of you here at the same time, why didn't it fly off into the sky?"

Aileen raised a finger.

A faint, almost invisible black thread floated at her fingertip.

"Simple. I spun it like a top..."

(End of chapter)